{"id":108153,"date":"2025-05-17T04:56:10","date_gmt":"2025-05-17T04:56:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/108153\/"},"modified":"2025-05-17T04:56:10","modified_gmt":"2025-05-17T04:56:10","slug":"psychedelics-may-shift-brain-power-to-the-right-hemisphere","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/108153\/","title":{"rendered":"Psychedelics May Shift Brain Power to the Right Hemisphere"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Summary: <\/strong>A new theory suggests that psychedelics promote empathy, insight, and psychological flexibility by making the brain\u2019s right hemisphere temporarily dominant over the left. Known as HEALS\u2014Hemispheric Annealing and Lateralization Under Psychedelics\u2014this model proposes that psychedelics disrupt the typical hierarchy between hemispheres, releasing the more holistic, emotionally intelligent right side from left-brain control.<\/p>\n<p>Neuroimaging shows a rightward shift in brain activity under psychedelics, aligning with traits often enhanced during these experiences, like mindfulness, empathy, and clarity. Research also finds parallels between the effects of psychedelics and practices like meditation, which also strengthen right-hemisphere networks.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Key Facts:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>HEALS Model:<\/strong> Proposes that psychedelics shift dominance from the left to the right hemisphere.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Emotional Benefits:<\/strong> Right-brain dominance may enhance empathy, creativity, and insight.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Neural Evidence:<\/strong> Neuroimaging shows increased right-hemisphere activity under psychedelics.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong>Ohio State University<\/p>\n<p><strong>The secret to psychedelic drugs\u2019 links to greater empathy and insight may lie in their ability to coax the right hemisphere of the brain into a position of dominance over the left, according to a proposed new theory.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Researcher\u00a0Adam Levin\u00a0combined his experience in therapeutic psychedelics research and psychiatric training with a review of imaging, numerous studies and previous models to support his proposal, published in the\u00a0Journal of Psychopharmacology.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In this context, Levin emphasizes not what the two brain hemispheres do, but how they approach a topic or task \u2013 working in parallel, with left-brain dominance, during typical modes of consciousness.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>When we\u2019re solving a problem, or, evolutionarily speaking, hunting for food, for example, the scope of attention differs: The left hemisphere focuses on manipulation of individual parts while the right hemisphere maintains a big-picture frame of reference.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn the psychedelic state, there\u2019s a unique combination of the hemispheres coming together in a way that doesn\u2019t usually happen in normal states of consciousness,\u201d said Levin, a postdoctoral scholar and psychiatrist in the\u00a0Center for Psychedelic Drug Research and Education\u00a0in The Ohio State University\u00a0College of Social Work.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s almost a new encounter between the left and the right hemispheres\u2019 way of thinking and perceiving the world.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>He calls this model of psychedelic action HEALS: Hemispheric Annealing and Lateralization Under Psychedelics.<\/p>\n<p>In effect, he suggests, psychedelics reverse the hierarchical relationship between the two hemispheres of the brain, releasing the right hemisphere from inhibition by the left.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Levin was initially inspired in part by the writings of\u00a0Iain McGilchrist, author of \u201cThe Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But his own clinical experience as a medical student and psychiatry resident gave Levin an up-close look at how disorders affecting one side of the brain or the other affected patients\u2019 world view.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn people who lose the right hemisphere to stroke, the attentional window gets so narrow and they don\u2019t even recognize a whole half of the world. Whereas people with an intact right hemisphere, who lose their left hemisphere, still have a broader general picture of things,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA lot of these people\u2019s experiences seem, to me, to be similar to what I\u2019m seeing in my psychedelic research.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Previous hypotheses about psychedelics\u2019 effects on the brain have suggested \u201cunrestrained cognition\u201d occurs through the weakening of control exerted by frontal lobes and the top of the brain.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>While that is likely true, Levin said, patterns observed in people\u2019s reports of their psychedelic experiences suggest there\u2019s more going on: There are increases in psychological flexibility, creativity, and social and emotional intelligence; greater empathy, harmony and connection; a broader attentional window toward novelty and \u201caliveness\u201d; and clarity and insight about one\u2019s basic existence and, in some cases, need for healing.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThose general patterns are awfully similar to the pattern of the right hemisphere,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd I think psychedelics provide access to this whole picture, this whole view, that could have been operating in the background \u2013 and that\u2019s this right hemisphere view. Restoration of this natural balance is an interesting way of explaining some of what\u2019s happening.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Neuroimaging studies of lateral changes to brain blood flow and metabolism \u2013 brain regions\u2019 use of glucose \u2013 that Levin analyzed showed signs of heavy activity in the frontal lobes in the right hemisphere as well as an overall rightward shift in metabolic activity under psychedelics, he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The growing evidence that mindfulness meditation practice is linked to\u00a0building new networks in the brain\u00a0and\u00a0increasing brain thickness in the right hemisphere\u00a0is relevant to the HEALS theory, as well.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPsychedelics have been linked to improvements in mindfulness with just one or two uses. And sometimes these capacities are almost at levels consistent with practiced meditators,\u201d Levin said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat makes it likely, to me, that many core right-sided networks that are enhanced with practicing meditation might be enhanced briefly, or maybe longer, through psychedelics.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think there\u2019s an opportunity after the use of psychedelics to increase and sustain mindfulness capacities in these areas of the right hemisphere.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The field of psychedelic research is focused on therapeutic applications at Ohio State and elsewhere, but Levin expects that expansion of the field will stimulate pursuit of other research questions \u2013 including testing theories about how these substances act on the brain.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>He considers HEALS a complement to earlier theories about psychedelic action, and expects the growth in research to produce more hypotheses.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think to explain something as complex as the brain, especially in the human being, you need a variety of theories to more closely approximate what\u2019s actually happening,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf we get too fixated on one explanation or the other, we\u2019re going to lose track of reality.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>About this psychopharmacology and neuroscience research news<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-background\" style=\"background-color:#ffffe8\"><strong>Author: <\/strong><a href=\"http:\/\/neurosciencenews.com\/cdn-cgi\/l\/email-protection#4e2d2f222a392b2222607f7b7f0e213d3b602b2a3b\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Emily Caldwell<\/a><br \/><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/osu.edu\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Ohio State University<\/a><br \/><strong>Contact: <\/strong>Emily Caldwell \u2013 Ohio State University<br \/><strong>Image: <\/strong>The image is credited to Neuroscience News<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-background\" style=\"background-color:#ffffe8\"><strong>Original Research: <\/strong>Open access.<br \/>\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/02698811241303599\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Hemispheric annealing and lateralization under psychedelics (HEALS): A novel hypothesis of psychedelic action in the brain<\/a>\u201d by Adam Levin et al. Journal of Psychopharmacology<\/p>\n<p><strong>Abstract<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Hemispheric annealing and lateralization under psychedelics (HEALS): A novel hypothesis of psychedelic action in the brain<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Current models of psychedelic action in the brain propose changes along the dorsal\u2013ventral and anterior\u2013posterior axes but neglect to address the lateral axis.<\/p>\n<p>This article proposes a novel model of psychedelic action called HEALS (Hemispheric Annealing and Lateralization Under Psychedelics) which involves the reversal of the typical hierarchical relationship between the two hemispheres of the brain.<\/p>\n<p>In typical modes of consciousness, the hemispheres act in parallel process with the left predominating.<\/p>\n<p>Under psychedelics, as well as in other altered states of consciousness (ASCs), this hierarchy is reversed, with the right hemisphere released from inhibition by the left.<\/p>\n<p>In support of this model, the available neuroimaging evidence for lateralization under psychedelics is reviewed.<\/p>\n<p>Then, various cognitive and emotional changes observed under psychedelics are contrasted with those same functions in each hemisphere.<\/p>\n<p>These include attention; social and emotional intelligence; creativity and insight; and language.<\/p>\n<p>The article concludes with a review of laterality in other ASCs, such as meditative and trance states, and suggests that many phenomena associated with psychedelics, and other ASCs, might be explained by an atypical annealing between the hemispheres toward right hemisphere predominance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Summary: A new theory suggests that psychedelics promote empathy, insight, and psychological flexibility by making the brain\u2019s right&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":108154,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[215,3608,775,105,219,220,11489,13970,222,13971,49360,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-108153","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-brain-research","9":"tag-creativity","10":"tag-empathy","11":"tag-health","12":"tag-neurobiology","13":"tag-neuroscience","14":"tag-ohio-state-university","15":"tag-psychedelics","16":"tag-psychology","17":"tag-psychopharmacology","18":"tag-right-hemisphere","19":"tag-uk","20":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114521399837612124","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108153","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108153"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108153\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/108154"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}